Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is something most people don’t know about unless they have it or learn about it in a health class. PCOS is essentially a hormone imbalance disorder that can completely throw off a female’s body. Symptoms range from irregular menstrual cycles to weight gain and even high blood pressure.
This syndrome doesn’t necessarily imply that the person who has it has cysts on their ovaries; it just means that their ovaries go into overdrive and produce too much progesterone. Left untreated and unmanaged, this can lead to obesity, infertility, type II diabetes, strokes, and more.
While there is no cure currently, there are plenty of ways to manage life with PCOS—even in college. Trust me, I know first hand.
A little bit of background on my history with the disorder: I was diagnosed in March of this year. I started gaining weight like crazy with no probable cause. The day my symptoms really scared me, though, was when I had dangerously high blood pressure and my lower abdomen was in extreme pain, as though it were on fire.
After consulting with my family physician, I was strongly encouraged to head to a GYN and that’s exactly what I did. I had a consultation, followed by an 8-vile blood test and ultrasound of my lower abdomen. Once the results came in, I went to the office for a follow-up appointment and my doctor diagnosed me with PCOS.
At first, the thought of having this disorder scared me because I hardly knew what it was and what my prognosis would be. It turns out, all I needed was to be on birth control as a form of hormone therapy and continue a healthy lifestyle of nutritious foods and regular exercise. Coming to college, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the food and exercise aspect. But thankfully I’ve been doing just fine.
With seemingly every unhealthy food right in reach, it can be hard to eat nutritiously in college. And with the stress of time-consuming schoolwork, it may be difficult to find the time to exercise routinely. One simple tool I have found to be extremely useful in keeping up healthy eating and exercise habits is an app called MyFitnessPal.
This app is a food log, step tracker, and fitness goal diary. Being able to see exactly what I eat and how much physical activity I do each day has helped me lose some of the weight that I gained from having PCOS. I seriously urge other college women with this syndrome to download the app because it can help alleviate some of the symptoms!
As far as medicine goes, I take my birth control religiously. Birth control is typically used to treat most PCOS cases and, as you may know, there’s a two-hour time frame when it’s okay to take it effectively. This means that compared to the time you took it the previous night, it’s perfectly fine to take it either an hour before or an hour after that time the following day.
I always make sure I take it at a time I know I will be back in my dorm—when I won’t be in class or at an organization meeting, etc. This way I know it will consistently be taken at about the same time each day and I don’t have to worry about missing a dose. All women with PCOS should try and adapt a similar kind of routine. I know it might seem kind of crazy to plan your day/night around when you take this medication, but knowing how important it is that you take it, it needs to be a priority.
Sometimes it might feel like we were dealt an unfair hand by having PCOS, but hopefully my advice will make it easy to manage even with a crazy college lifestyle. When properly dealt with, PCOS poses no serious health threat to women who have it. As young women it is important to take care of our bodies now, so that any problems we have in the present don’t develop into something worse later on in life. Stay healthy, collegiettes!